Easter Morning dawned with overcast skies, but by mid-morning the sun had burned off the cloud cover and it was soon back up to a very pleasant 20 degrees.

As players got their games under way, there were a few vacant spaces left by the late-comers. In the Open, there were two players in particular, on opposite sides of the room, waiting for their opponent to turn up – both had started their clocks and the one with White having made his move. It was some minutes before the Controller realised they should actually be playing each other – one had sat at the wrong table. No names – no pack drill.

Just before the start of play, I managed (eventually) to gather together the four lady players together for a special group photograph. I had notified them of my intentions the previous afternoon, but one had had a bye and was not in the building, so I would try again in the morning. But getting them together in one place and to stay in one place, while I went off to find the fourth missing member, and having got her, only to find one of the other three had also gone missing. The phrase ” like herding cats” may sound cruel but it did cross my mind. However, success was achieved with a minute to spare. It was certainly worth the trouble.

A Special Group Photograph

Standing: Megan Owens – a pupil at Millfield School, with numerous titles already to her name: already a veteran Wales Junior International, Wiltshire and WECU Girls titles, with many more surely to follow.

Seated (l-r): Hazel Welch – current WECU Ladies Championship.

Dinah Norman – former British Ladies Champion several times in a former existence as Dinah Dobson.